Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
sprawl . - adjective That sprawls
- adjective
Expansive ;extensive
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective spreading out in different directions
- noun an ungainly posture with arms and legs spread about
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sprawling.
Examples
-
International soccer authorities and law enforcement officials are struggling to combat rampant match-fixing by what they describe as sprawling networks of organized crime, a problem that has plagued the sport for decades but appears to have intensified recently.
-
International soccer authorities and law enforcement officials are struggling to combat rampant game fixing by what they describe as sprawling networks of organized crime, a problem that has plagued the sport for decades but appears to have intensified recently.
-
International soccer authorities and law enforcement officials are struggling to combat rampant match-fixing by what they describe as sprawling networks of organized crime, a problem that has plagued the sport for decades but appears to have intensified recently.
-
Nowlan has adopted the picaresque narrative, usually to be found in sprawling tales spread out in both time and space, to create a more foreshortened, more intensely realized, indeed more "concentrated" work of fiction that would not have the same impact had it been "shaped" in some other way, had it instead come in the form of a conventional "well-made story" employing the contemporary default mode of "psychological realism."
-
We'll be inducing a commute from Puyallup, meaning that we'll make it easier and cheaper to live there, which then drives development of cheap housing, which then drives up the population in sprawling areas.
-
So began a message-board discussion on the website of Men's Health magazine, with debate on the all-powerful clothing label sprawling over several pages.
Julian Dunkerton: People just love the cut of his cloth |Observer profile
-
Here is a dated but thoroughly delightful article about maintaining continuity in sprawling, multiple-creator-written series.
-
Most of us live in sprawling chaotic cities that have expanded monstrously in the last decades, without anything resembling urban planning.
First Stop in the New World by David Lida: an interview with the author
-
Most of us live in sprawling chaotic cities that have expanded monstrously in the last decades, without anything resembling urban planning.
First Stop in the New World by David Lida: an interview with the author
-
Erase for a moment the images of Nigeria that may come to your mind — of burning garbage dumps in sprawling Lagos or unemployed young men brandishing jerry cans in the Niger Delta.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.